


Neil Josten is everywhere

by DucK_walKed_up_to_the_401



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 06:56:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 9,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29755824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DucK_walKed_up_to_the_401/pseuds/DucK_walKed_up_to_the_401
Summary: Neil Josten seems to be under the impression that nobody remembers.This is the fanfic I was talking about in leave a mark (preview fic). Here goes.
Comments: 16
Kudos: 25





	1. Andrew Doe

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome. Please get yourself some popcorn and enjoy the show.  
> For this first chapter, we will meet 15 year old Andrew Minyard. By we I mean Neil.  
> If you are reading this, thanks. I really hope you have a good time. I will try to post as much as possible.

Andrew Minyard was fifteen years old when he almost fell off a bridge.  
Almost every day he would walk up to the bridge. He would sit on a small concrete beam, and look out towards the world around him. Everything looked different from up there, to Andrew. He felt powerful, and scared and painfully human and he noted all these feelings, testing their limits and the ways he could make them disappear. He watched the world with the knowledge that it was not watching him in return.  
The world may not have been watching him, but someone sure was. He felt a prickling sensation, the kind that tells you to turn around. But when he did, he didn’t see anyone or anything.  
When he turned around the fifth time he actually did see someone. Or, more he saw a movement in the forest up the hill a tad.  
“What are you doing?” Andrew yelled, annoyed, at the forest.  
The forest was not available for comment, but presumably didn’t like being yelled at.  
A boy stepped through the trees, grinning like a true and proper maniac. He wore a blue sweater and jeans and his plain brown hair was flying around in the wind, probably annoying him. He couldn’t push it aside though because it would ruin the look.  
Andrew stood up on the beam, planning to do something (most likely something dumb), almost falling off in the process. He grabbed onto a metal pole and shot a glare at the boy, who smiled back, though if Andrew didn’t know any better he would say the boy looked a bit worried.  
“Woah, don’t fall,” the boy said, as if Andrew hadn’t been trying to not fall just a couple sendings before.  
Andrew stepped off the beam and walked towards the boy.  
“You were watching me,” Andrew said, stopping in front of the boy. The hill made the boy look much taller than he actually was.  
“I’d never seen a blonde before,” the boy said. “I didn’t know if you were real.”  
“I’m very real,” Andrew assured him. “Are you?”  
“Really annoying,” the boy said. Andrew would not fight him on that.  
“Annoying enough to make me want to push you off this very bridge,” Andrew said.  
The boy looked at the bridge as if just noticing it.  
“I’d drag you down with me,” the boy said. He continued. “Seems like a far drop to me.”  
“It would be worth it,” Andrew said. “I would be considered a hero.”  
“I'm sure,” the boy said. “Sadly, I have other people trying to kill me, so you’ll need to get in line.”  
He wasn’t lying. Andrew would know if he was. That was interesting.  
The boy pulled a pen and paper out of his sweater pocket.  
“Name, reason you want to kill me, then I’ll fill in the space that says which number you are,” the boy said.  
Andrew wrote ‘Andrew Doe’ at the top amd ‘because I hate you’ under it. Then he passed the paper and pen back to the boy.  
The boy checked the page, counted on his fingers for a moment, then wrote a 16 on the page. He passed it back to Andrew.  
“There are 15 in line before me,” Andrew asked.  
The boy nodded. “Told you I’m annoying.”  
They stood for a moment.  
“Do I get the privilege to know who I’m in line to kill?”  
The boy considered for a moment, then said: “A truth for a truth.”  
“Fine,” Andrew said. He had no secrets, not really.  
“I go first, then I’ll tell you my name,” the boy said. When Andrew nodded, he continued. “Why are you up here.”  
“To get away from people like you,” Andrew said, without a second thought. The boy waited. Andrew tried again. “To feel something.”  
“To feel fear?”  
“Name,” Andrew steered the conversation back to where he wanted it. The boy sighed like Andrew was the most annoying thing in his life.  
“Alex,” the boy said. He looked like an Alex, in theory. Alex was a troublemaker name in Andrew’s mind.  
Andrew said this. “You look like a troublemaker, you know that, right?”  
“I don’t look in mirrors, so I’ll take your word for it.”  
Alex was a liar. It was obvious in his evasion, in everything he did. But this, strangely, or maybe not, was not one of his lies.  
“You don’t make sense,” Andrew said.  
“Good,” Alex said. He looked like a demon when he smiled.  
“I hate you,” Andrew said.  
Alex nodded.  
Then he turned around and ran off.


	2. Dan Wilds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2, featuring: the one and only Dan! And some other people.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello this is chapter 2 if you couldn’t tell but anyways please enjoy!

Dan did not enjoy the walk home from work. The girls, who used to walk her most of the way home stopped doing so when she told them that she was fine, that she didn’t need it anymore. Which was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that.  
Her things were held in a small bundle. Her lockbox was wrapped in her jacket, to prevent people from seeing it. She had a system. She was good.  
Halfway home, down where the street started to make way for the barely roads that lead to her house, someone called out to her.  
Dan whipped around. A couple metres back was a man. He looked friendly enough, but she didn’t trust him because she had no good reason to. She remembered his face from earlier that night, and she was wondering why he was following her after work. Surely he understood how that would look to her.  
“Hey, pretty lady,” the man said. Or at least, that’s what Dan understood. His voice was strangely difficult to understand. “Incredible show, back there. Really superb.”  
“Thank you,” Dan said. So this was about work. She held her lockbox closer. The man’s eyes followed the movement.  
“You made quite a bit of money, back there,” the man continued. “I was wondering if I could borrow some. You know, so I can keep visiting you.”  
“I’m sorry,” Dan said. She felt very scared and very alone and how were the streets so empty this early? “I need to get home. My aunt needs the money and if I don’t bring it back she’ll be really mad.”  
“It’s not your aunt’s money,” the man growled, too loud for the conversation. Then his voice took on a kinder, but somehow more frightening tone. “I know about your aunt. She doesn’t deserve such a good niece. Here, I can take you back to my place so you don’t need to see her.”  
Dan shook. She had been trying to avoid conflict and had tried so hard not to insult this man while also making it clear that she wanted to go home. Away from this guy. She couldn’t tell if he was too dumb to realize what everything he was saying sounded like, or if he knew. The money in her lockbox clinked against the sides and the man's eyes snapped back.  
“Lara?!” Dan turned towards the voice, which has conveyed a mixture of surprise and some other emotion.  
Dan did not go by Lara, nor did she know any Lara’s who lived near here. But the boy down the street with black hair and plain clothes was definitely looking at her.  
Dan knew a way out when she saw it.  
“What the— Michael what are you doing here,” Dan responded. She didn’t know the guy, but she knew what he was doing. She played along.  
“It doesn’t matter what I’m doing here,” the boy answered, putting on an annoyed look. “What are you doing out so late? I’m pretty sure you’ll get in trouble for this.”  
“I had work. Unlike other people, I actually do something with my life. My aunt needs the money, so I can stay out as late as I need as long as I bring back the cash.” The man’s eyes darted between the two of them. He seemed confused. Good, Dan thought. It was working.  
The boy stomped over to her. “Listen here,” he said. “You will come back to your aunt's house with me right now and I swear if you cause any more problems I will make you regret it. And you,” with this, he turned to the man beside her. “ I don’t know who you are or what your business is with my cousin. But she is not up for grabs. My family is serious about this. She will not talk to you again. Don’t pull the ‘I wasn’t flirting’ because I don’t believe you. This is your only warning. Now scram.”  
And the man did scram, which probably had something to do with the fact that the boy had pulled a knife on the man and was holding it casually between his fingers.  
As the man disappeared down the street, the boy slipped the knife back into his sweater pocket.  
“Hey,” the boy said, and his voice had gone soft. He leaned towards her. “What do you want me to do now? Also, I really hope I didn’t just do that for no reason but you looked like you wanted a hand. I didn’t mean to overstep.”  
“That was exactly what I wanted,” Dan said. “Can you walk me home? If not that’s fine.”  
“Of course I can,” the boy said. “Just tell me which way to turn so it looks like I’m leading.”  
“Straight down this road, turn left at the first cross, go straight some more. Turn into the trailer park when you see it.”  
The boy nodded and started walking.  
“Mind if I ask what happened?”  
Dan turned towards the boy. He didn’t look like he was judging her.  
“I was walking home from my technically not fully legal job at a club,” the boy didn’t really react to that, so Dan continued. “I was walking home when one of the people who had been at the club started to talk to me. I don’t— I don’t really remember what he said but I got scared. I was hoping someone would notice. So, thanks for that.”  
“Wow, I’m really sorry,” the boy said, making more eye contact then a normal person would.  
“Can I ask you something,” Dan asked. The boy nodded. “I don’t really know who you are and this isn’t a big town so that seems unlikely.”  
“Right, you don’t know me,” the boy laughs. “Keep forgetting I’m not Michael, your cousin. Yeah, I’m Leon. I mean, technically I got named Leonardo, but that's an obnoxious sounding name. And as for why I’m in town I’ve been driving for days and I was planning on staying in a hotel or motel or something.”  
“Ok, um, would you like to stay at my place,” Dan asked hesitantly.  
He stared at her.  
“Is that ok with your aunt and everything,” he asked hesitantly.  
“Oh, she’s not home on Fridays. She goes to sports night at some guy’s house,” Dan said. “So what’s the verdict?”  
“Sure,” the boy smiled, just the two corners of his mouth turning up. “Wait, you didn’t tell me your name.”  
Dan considered giving a fake one. “Dan.”  
“Nicer name than Lara,” the boy said.  
By the time they got to the trailer, Dan was tired enough to pass out on the doorstep, which she briefly considered doing. Instead, she fished her keys out of her pocket to unlock the door. But when she turned them in the knob, instead of them making a nice chink sound she got the heavy click of the door locking. The door had been unlocked.  
“The door was unlocked,” Dan said, her voice strangely high pitched.  
“It’s ok, let’s just go in, I’ve got you if anything goes wrong,” Leon responded evenly.  
Dan pushed inside. So far, nada. She checked every room. Nada. She even checked under the table. Nothing. She walked back to the door, locked it, then turned to Leon.  
“Do you mind the couch,” she asked. He shook his head, but she continued. “I would offer my aunt’s bed but that’s gross to me.”  
“No, the couch is great,” Leon said.  
She pointed to the blankets in the little box. “Help yourself.”  
Leon nodded.  
Dan got into bed, without changing, washing her face, anything. She just burrowed into her blankets and fell asleep.  
——  
When Dan woke up, the first thing she heard was too loud knocking at the trailer door. She jumped out of bed and ran to the door, peeking through the curtains covering the window. Her aunt stuck up a middle finger.  
“Welcome home, auntie,” Dan said with mock respect, ripping the door open and waving her aunt in. “Get bored of sleeping with no lifes?”  
“Your one to talk,” her aunt looked back at Leon, who was standing a foot behind her. “Who’s this kid?”  
“This is my friend. He stopped me from getting attacked by a man after work. Then he walked me home. I offered to let him stay here, because it was late and the motels in this area are gross,” Dan challenged her aunt to say anything.  
Nada.  
“Don’t you have a key,” Dan asked.  
“I left it at the party,” her aunt said shyly. “I’ll go pick it up later.”  
“Good,” Dan said, then she turned to Leon. “How does a walk to a café or something sound?”  
“Sounds like a plan,” Leon said, smiling at her, then turning to her aunt. “It was nice to meet you, ma’am.”  
She laughed and pushed the door open, ignoring her aunt’s face.  
She dragged Leon out the door and down the street, laughing the whole way.  
“You called my aunt— you actually just called her ma’am!” Dan laughed so hard she briefly considered that she might be dying. It wasn’t that funny, except that it was.  
“I was trying to be respectful!” His voice was indignant, but he was laughing too.  
Dan thought for a second, slowing down.  
“I just realized I never would have met you if I had exy practice last night,” Dan said. She didn’t know why the thought startled her.  
“You play exy?” Leon didn’t sound surprised, just excited.  
“Yeah, you?”  
“No, it sounds cool though,” Leon said. His voice was distant. “Will you sign an autograph for me when you get famous?”  
“I’ll sign two,” Dan said. “One for you and one for Michael.”  
She continued to drag him along until they made it back into town. She stopped in front of a tiny little bakery called The Muffin Palace and turned to Leon. He nodded, so she got in line behind the one other person in the shop.  
Leon stared at all the muffins, his expression similar to how Dan’s Exy coach looked when someone actually scored. An expression of awe.  
“Can I take your order?”  
Dan turned towards Barry, the shop owner, who was smiling at her and Leon.  
“Hazelnut chocolate swirl muffin with lemon water, please,” she said, reciting her usual order. Barry smiled and called back ‘The usual for Dani!’, which was funny because Barry’s partner was deaf.  
“And for your friend,” Barry continued with a wink. She mimed throwing up. Barry laughed.  
“You’re rude,” Leon said to her. “I’ll have the lemon blueberry muffin, please.”  
Barry called back that order too and Dan shoved a twenty across the counter. Barry shoved back ten, but she told him to keep the change.  
“Don’t pull a rich kid on me and tell me to keep the change, we both know you’re gonna want muffins later and you’re gonna regret giving me your muffin money.”  
“Fine,” Dan said, taking a five.  
“Smart girl,” Barry said. “You’ll go far with a brain like that.”  
Dan smiled like an annoying seven year old. Barry shoved their food at them.  
“Out of my shop, gremlins,” he said, smiling.  
They did as told and sat at a table at the patio. Leon nearly fell while pulling out a heavy metal chair.  
“Holy, these things weigh almost as much as I do!”  
“That’s not saying much,” Dan answered. Leon stuck out his tongue. Then his eyes flickered down to his watch and widened.  
“I need to go,” Leon said. He hadn’t even sat down. He looked sad. “It was nice meeting you.”  
Dan grabbed the receipt and scribbled her phone number on it with a pen from the shop. “Call me whenever.”  
He ran off, leaving his muffin behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Calling all people. I am looking for characters, places and names. I need more names for Neil while he’s on the run, places where he can meet characters and actual characters for him to meet. So, if you want you can just send recommendations in the comments. In terms of characters, they don’t need to be from this series.  
> Now that that’s out of the way, hope you enjoyed and have a great day


	3. Nicky Hemmick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicky Hemmick and and ice cream in winter. Also, am I spelling his last name wrong?

Sweet Jesus was the absolute best ice cream place in the whole world and it was just far enough from Nicky’s house that his parents would never find him there. It went without saying that Nicky loved it.  
It was a cold Friday night in November and Nicky was sitting down with a delicious rainbow candy ice cream. A boy walked from the counter with a small raspberry chocolate ice cream. The shop was empty otherwise.  
The boy took a book out of his backpack. Nicky stretched his head out to the side. It was a history book, like the one Nicky had used and the rip in the cover made it look exactly like Nicky’s old textbook.  
“Excuse me,” Nicky said, standing up and walking over to the boy. “That looks like my old history textbook. I’m Nicky.”  
The boy’s eyes widened. “You’re Nicky?! Like, Nicky who filled the whole book with notes and answers to the questions that are on all the tests?”  
Nicky nodded, smiling. “Sorry, didn’t mean to graffiti your textbook.”  
“Sorry?! Those notes are absolute gold! Oh, but your handwriting sucks so much.”  
“Yeah, it does,” Nicky said. “It’s better now. Sorry, I don’t think I caught your name. In my head you’re just ‘chocolate raspberry ice cream boy’.”  
“Oh,” the boy said, laughing a bit. “Yeah, I’m Adam. I really hope you weren’t trying to insult my ice cream choices, by the way.”  
Nicky threw his hands up in mock surrender. “I would never even think to insult your ice cream choices. I just think mine are better.”  
Adam eyed Nicky’s ice cream. “I’m guessing that thing has enough sugar in it to kill a small army.”  
“I’m hoping it does,” Nicky said. “That’s kinda the whole point of this place. Speaking of, what are you doing here with your history textbook?”  
“I’m studying and ice cream is a good motivator if you want to finish your homework fast. I just leave it on the table until I’m done my homework. If I don’t finish fast enough, it melts.”  
“That’s hardcore. Oh, shoot, am I interrupting?!”  
Adam laughed. “You are, actually, but if you give me the answers to the last couple history questions I might just forgive you.”  
“Show me the Q’s,” Nicky said.  
Adam slid the paper over and Nicky skimmed the questions for a moment before laughing. “All the answers to these are actually written on page 236. The answers are in the paragraphs and the subtitles hint to which questions.”  
Adam’s eyes widened and then he laughed softly into his hand. “I have legitimately been working on this for twenty minutes. Oh, gosh that’s embarrassing.”  
He scribbled down the answers and Nicky watched as swirly letters curved off the lines for the questions.  
“You say my handwriting is bad,” Nicky said.  
Adam looked up at him and scowled. “Shush and let me work. I want to eat my ice cream.”  
Nicky shoved a large bite of ice cream into his mouth. “Mmmmmm so yummy so much better than the stuff Adam got…”  
Adam slammed his textbook closed and shoved it into his bag. “Done!”  
“Nice job!”  
Adam had his first bite of ice cream. He smiled and shook his head at Nicky. “You’re delusional if you think that monstrosity is better than this.”  
Nicky threw out his ice cream cup and came back to the table, but Adam was already packing up.  
“Woah, did I seriously scare you off already?” Nicky was a bit confused and sure, maybe a bit hurt too, but he wouldn’t say that.  
“Sorry,” Adam said, pulling his bag on and picking up his ice cream. “Gotta get home soon.”  
Adam was already running, ice cream balanced in hand, before the bell on the door had stopped ringing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s all for now!


	4. Renee Walker

Renee’s mom was overprotective and Renee could live with it. At the very least, she was protective, which was more than Renee’s biological mom had ever been. But sometimes Renee wanted to remind her that she wasn’t breakable, that she was not made of paper and that she would not blow away if a storm came.   
But now, with the storm raging just outside the public library, Renee was quite content to stay inside and be a paper girl, if it meant she didn’t have to go outside.   
Just as she thought about how awful it would be to be outside in such weather, a boy pushed his way into the library, absolutely soaked. He went to the table next to her, dragged his sopping coat off and hung it on the back of a plastic chair. Then he shuffled behind one of the shelves. Renee looked back down at her book, which was a large encyclopedia. Renee was more than used to people judging her book choices, because where most girls read fantasy or adventure or horror or some kind of fiction, Renee did not. After finishing the bible and a book of complex poetry from various time periods, she had moved to more scientific books. She read a couple of those, then went through a short phase where she read almost every biography in the library. Now she was reading all the encyclopedias.   
While she thought about books and continued reading her own, the boy picked out a couple.   
He placed the Sign language books down carefully at his table. Renee looked at them curiously.   
She pulled a colouring page and crayon off the table from beside her and wrote on the back a simple message: ‘do you know sign language?’. She showed it to him.   
The boy took the page and crayon, which was blue, from her hands. He took it hesitantly, as if worried she might slap his hands away. She did no such thing.   
In perfect handwriting he wrote ‘no. i'm learning. you don’t need to write on this though. im not deaf, just mute.’  
He passed her the paper. She read it quickly, then wrote back. ‘i know i don’t need to write on this, but it works because the librarian is very strict about the no talking policy. do you come here often? i haven’t seen you around.’  
Their arrangement, going to each other’s table seemed to have gotten to the boy before Renee, and he walked over with his books, patting the seat across from her. She nodded. He sat down and read the note.   
‘im new around here. just moved away from home.’  
He looked too young to move away from home, but she decided not to question.   
‘im new around here too,’ Renee wrote. ‘i moved here last year.’  
The boy held the crayon over the paper for a moment, then wrote. ‘what’s your name? if you don’t mind me asking.’  
His question mark looked more like a three year old trying to write a rest sign in music class. It was strangely funny. Renee tried not to laugh.   
‘im Renee. what about you.’  
‘im a menace.’ His hand hesitated for a moment over the paper, then he wrote. ‘my name is josh.’  
‘you have nice handwriting,’ Renee wrote.   
‘thank you. i would say the same to you, but im trying to lie less.’  
Renee laughed out loud. The librarian shot her a look. Josh giggled into his hand.   
‘not all of those books are for sign language. some of those are exy books.’  
It was typical of Renee to change the subject to exy, but she couldn’t help herself. It was the greatest sport ever and Renee would spend all her time talking about it, playing it, watching it. Well, she’d take time for other things too, but maybe just a couple hours for non exy. Josh didn’t seem to mind the new subject.   
‘yeah, they are. i really like exy, but im not any good. so i just read about it. what do you know about exy?’  
‘i play for my high school team. im trying to get an exy scholarship.’  
‘that would be so awesome. i hope you do.’  
‘it would be awesome. but lots of kids have the same dream, and im not the best.’  
‘if you care enough, you can be good enough.’  
‘that’s a nice way to think of it. you’re very wise.’  
‘real shame i can’t share all my wisdom about a sport i don’t play because im mute and can only communicate through writing.’  
‘i feel like im detecting some snark.’  
‘you are.’  
‘you may just be the sassiest mute i've ever met.’  
Josh smiled, hovering the crayon over the page, then his eyes flicked up to the clock. He quickly scribbled another message. His writing was messier. ‘does that clock work?’   
Renee checked the clock, then her phone. She nodded.   
‘bye, Renee’ was written at the bottom of the page.   
The library doors swung closed and Josh ran out into the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bye yo have a nice day


	5. Sally Jackson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where I mess with timelines, reality and break many rules so that Sally Jackson can meet this mess of a human, Neil Josten. Please, do enjoy.

Sally Jackson was a mom. Sally Jackson was a writer. Sally Jackson was an incredible person and she was humble enough to deny it if you told her so. Sally Jackson was very nice. Sally Jackson was many things.   
Right now, Sally Jackson was sick and tired of people treating other people like trash.   
“This is Chris,” Percy said to her, dragging a boy in front of him. “Someone beat him up. I thought he could use our first aid kit.”  
Chris’s face was pinkish and he had a bloody nose. His lip was split and he held a scraped hand up over one eye.   
Sally Jackson was an incredible person and she would never deny help to someone who needed it, especially when it cost her nothing.   
“Brb,” Sally said. Percy groaned and hid his face in his hands. Sally laughed, mostly to calm down the frightened boy who had slunk back behind Percy.   
Sally moved to the bathroom. Gosh, that kid looked so scared. She pulled the first aid kit out of the closet. Why would humans do this?   
When Sally came back with the first aid kit, Percy and Chris were talking seriously about the best kind of ice cream. Chris looked a lot more like a kid.   
“So vanilla is always a solid,” Percy said. Chris nodded. “Strawberry is a wild card, chocolate a little less so but sometimes they make it too bitter. Cookies and cream, Reece’s pieces, cookie dough are always good. You can’t go wrong with Neapolitan. Now, what about sherbet and gelato, though?”  
Chris thought for a moment.   
“I had gelato once at a place in another town and it was good. Raspberry flavour. But I’ve never had sherbet, at least that I know of.”  
“Seriously?!” Percy sounded incredulous. “Sherbet is like gelato but sweeter and you can get it at the store for a buck. It’s awesome! Momma, do we have any here?”  
“Yeah, we do,” Sally said. Chris turned to her, which made her think that maybe he hadn’t seen her come in. “Chris, do your parents know you’re here? I don’t want them to be worried about you.”  
“My mom works from home on Wednesday’s and asks me to stay out of the house until work is done,” Chris said. “Do you want me to go?”  
“That’s not what I said. I’m happy to have you over. Besides, Percy doesn’t usually let me meet his friends.”  
“That’s not true!” Percy sounded vaguely insulted, but also like he was kidding. “I just don’t have many friends. Besides, Chris is new to the school since last week so I didn’t really have time to invite him over.”  
Sally talked as she unpacked things from the first aid kit. “How are you liking the school?”  
“It’s nice,” Chris said. Percy made a face at that and Chris laughed.   
As Percy talked about lighthearted subjects and made jokes, Sally helped wipe blood off Chris’ face. She put a bandaid on a cut on his hand and another on the bridge of his nose. Then she got a little ice pack from the fridge for him to put against the bruise on his eye.   
“Thank you,” Chris said. He smiled at her and he looked more like a kid when he smiled.   
“No problem, kiddo. Say, do you wanna stay for dinner?”  
Percy smiled at him and gave a big thumbs up.   
“Do you have a phone that I could use,” Chris asked. Sally nodded to the one against the wall.   
Chris went over to make a call, presumably to his mom. Sally turned to Percy. He shrugged at her.   
“What, Mama,” Percy asked.   
“Nothing,” Sally answered. “I’m happy that you’re making friends.”  
Percy rolled his eyes, but then laughed and said ‘kidding, ma’.  
Chris walked up to them. “My mom says I need to get home. Thank you for having me.”  
“Oh, would you like me to drive you home,” Sally asked.   
“No, I’m ok but thank you,” Chris said. He unlocked the door and left.   
Sally watched the window as Chris ran down the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m running low on characters and scene ideas so any comments giving me some direction are appreciated. Any comments are appreciated. You are appreciated, because I said so. You are very appreciated.


	6. Harry Potter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry Potter is here at last, being his usual British, famous, slightly problematic self. Neil is here, being problematic but that shouldn’t surprise you.   
> Sorry this chapter is short I’m working on this issue but I think it’s just one of the flaws of my writing.

Harry Potter was absolutely done with running into brick walls. So. Done.  
The boy beside him was laughing, and that didn’t help. Harry looked up angrily, but didn’t need to look far. Harry was by no means tall, but this kid was so short it made Harry look like an actual giant.  
“Here, want a hand?” Harry stared at the outstretched hand in front of him for a moment, then took it and lifted himself up. He brushed off his pants and righted his things and checked in briefly on Hedwig.  
“Thank you,” Harry said after a moment. “If you wouldn’t mind telling me, how much of that did you see?”  
The boy laughed and flicked his eyes over to the wall between platforms nine and ten. “I saw you run straight into a wall,” the boy said. “Then I saw you fall over.”  
“Great,” Harry said. That’s embarrassing, he thought. “Well, it’s been a pleasure, but I best be off.”  
Harry turned and started walking away when the boy called out to him. “I know how to get you onto the platform.”  
Harry swiveled around in surprise. What? Was this kid a wizard? How did he know about the platform? Why hadn’t Harry ever seen him before? And why on earth did he not recognize Harry?  
“You know what?”  
“Here,” the boy said, gesturing around the brick wall. “If you follow me, I can show you. And, no, this is not some evil scheme to lead you to Voldemort.”  
That sold it for Harry. He naturally trusted people who called Voldemort by his name. Besides, he didn’t want to be late to school.  
“Alright, lead the way…,” Harry paused for a moment. “Sorry, I don’t believe I caught your name.”  
“Pierre, it’s French. If I’m not mistaken, you’re Harry Potter.”  
Harry nodded. So much for this kid not recognizing him.  
They walked down, right to the very end of the station. Harry waited for a moment as Pierre stood right in front of the wall. Before he could ask what was going on, Pierre knocked three times. A brick slid away and two eyes peered through the hole.  
“What,” said the voice from the hole, clearly annoyed.  
“My friend here can’t get onto the platform,” Pierre said. “Do you mind opening it back up?”  
The man grumbled. “Fine, ten minutes.”  
Harry and Pierre met eyes, thanked the man quickly and ran down through the station, laughing.  
“That was so cool,” Harry said, as they stood in front of platforms nine and ten. “Where did you learn to do that?”  
“My mom is a very special woman,” Pierre said, his smile almost dripping off his face, but not quite.  
“Hey,” Harry said, pulling out some parchment and a pen. A real, human pen. He scribbled how to get an owl to send him mail. “In case you want to send me an owl,” Harry handed the paper to him and smiled. The boy shoved it into his pocket.  
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Pierre said.  
As Harry turned and ran through the brick wall between platforms nine and ten, the boy turned and ran towards the station exit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading I’m sorry about the quality of some chapters I’m running low on inspiration so any ideas communicated through the comments are appreciated. 
> 
> Thanks!


	7. Matt Boyd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt Boyd playing hide and go seek. You didn’t ask for this, but it’s here anyway. That’s kinda how life goes.  
> Also, for educational purposes, there is a big difference between the games hide and go seek and hide and seek. Hide and go seek is legit, its not a game it’s a lifestyle. Hide and seek is what you and your cousins that you just met play at some place that you aren’t supposed to play, like your grandmother’s house.

Matt was something of a hide and go seek legend. He was known for being able to find the best spots in no time. At this point in history he was short enough to fit in them, too.  
On one summer day, while he and a couple friends were just going for a nice walk through the park, one of his friends called out. “Hide and go seek, 60 seconds to hide. GO!!”  
And just like that, everyone in the group except for the person who had started the game scattered. Matt ran towards the forest but then took a surprising left and climbed up a small building. He checked to see that he was invisible, which of course he was, then relaxed against the side of the roof.  
Of course, that’s right about when he noticed he wasn’t alone.  
The boy in front him, who looked at least a couple years younger, was not one of his friends.  
“Hello,” said the boy, smiling and waving. “I’m Milo. This is a good hiding spot, for the record.”  
Matt regained his composure easy enough. “Nice to meet you. I’m Matt. How do you know this is a good hiding spot?”  
Milo thought for a moment. “Well, because you’re the first person who found me here.”  
“And how long have you been up here?”  
“Couple hours at least,” Milo said.  
Matt was too young to really think about what that might mean. “Cool!”  
At this small dip in conversation Milo looked down at the thing in front of him. When he caught Matt looking, he tipped it so Matt could see. It was a colouring book. Milo was using these crappy little dollar store pencil crayons on these vaguely childish drawings. But the colouring didn’t look childish. There were patterns that made everything look textured and the colours looked perfect together.  
“That looks awesome,” Matt whispered. Milo blushed and shook his head. “No, no, Milo it’s really cool.”  
“I can give you a page if you want,” Milo said, and when Matt didn’t say anything Milo slid a picture of a garden his way, along with two colours to start with.  
Matt tried to colour it like Milo did, but he couldn’t.  
“How do you make the lines in this one so straight?” Matt had waited patiently to ask for almost a minute, but he really wanted to do this right.  
“Practice mostly. They’re still not straight but you don’t notice from far away. You did a great job on the swirls.”  
“Thanks,” Matt said, looking down at his page. “What’s your favourite colour? Cause, you use a lot of green but that could be because you’re drawing a garden.”  
“The green is mostly because of the garden,” Milo said. “But I do really like the colour green. What about you?”  
This was an easy question for Matt. “Red. Stop sign red. Firetruck red. Bright red. It’s so vibrant.”  
Milo nodded. “Favourite animal?”  
Matt has to think about this one a little longer. “Maybe elephants? I always wanted to meet an elephant. You?”  
“Hmmm, maybe a pronghorn antelope. Fastest land animal ever.”  
“Awesome,” Matt said. “We both have animals that live halfway across the world from here.”  
Milo laughed at that.  
“There!” Someone yelled from below them. Matt’s friends were cheering. Matt hastily collected his drawing, which wasn’t even close to finished. When he looked up, Milo had somehow made it off the roof. He was running across the grassy field, colouring book in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a lottle short, but it exists and at the moment that’s how it’s gonna go.  
> Thanks for reading as always. Inspiration and any other feedback are appreciated. Bye yo


	8. Aaron Minyard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m sorry about this one. I needed to get a chapter out but I know that this one isn’t great. In any case i hope you enjoy.

Aaron Minyard hated group work. So, naturally, when his teacher said they’d be working in partners, he was not really in a good mood. When he got paired with the new kid, Charles, it was just adding insult to injury.   
It’s not that Aaron had anything against new kids in general, or even with this new kid. But he didn’t know Charles very well and had never talked to him.   
Aaron picked up his textbook and dragged his way over to the table Charles was sitting at.   
“Can I sit here?” Aaron pointed at the seat across from Charles, who nodded quickly.   
“So,” Charles began, fiddling with his hands as he talked. “Group art project. Which problem were you thinking of doing it on?”  
Aaron thought for a second, choosing not to be surprised that Charles was asking for his opinion. “I was thinking we could do it on climate change?”  
Charles nodded. “Great! Next question: Can you do art? Are you good at drawing, painting something else or nothing?”  
“I cannot do art,” Aaron said. “Drawing is probably my best shot. What about you?”  
“I don’t draw a lot but it’s still my best medium. Ok, let’s start the rough draft, right? Oh, and if I’m being too bossy just tell me.”  
They got to work, getting out the large piece of paper they would work on. They sketched the planet and polar bears floating through space. Charles added a bunch of fine details and laughed at Aaron’s animal drawings.   
“It isn’t funny,” Aaron said indignantly. “You’re despicable. A true problem if I ever saw one.”  
“That’s what my parents called me,” Charles joked. “And it’s not that I think there is anything wrong with your gorgeous animal sketches, I just think some of them look a bit funny, is all.”  
“Speaking of gorgeous sketches, look at what Mark’s group is doing,” Aaron said, looking over at the mural beside him. It was way more detailed than theirs.   
“Oh, we’re so screwed,” Charles muttered. “Well, at least we tried. Do we have time to start on colour or is it too late for that?”  
Aaron checked the clock, which said they only had ten more minutes of class. “Class ends in ten. We probably have about five more minutes of this.”  
Three minutes later their teacher was calling them back to their desks.   
“That was fun,” Charles said.   
“Agreed,” Aaron said, and he wasn’t even lying.   
As they filled in stuff in their agendas and their teacher explained that they would have at least two more periods to work on the project. Charles sent him a thumbs up.   
Finally, the bell rang. Kids cheered and stormed out the doors, but Charles bolted in front just fast enough. He was out of the school and running before Aaron had even gotten all of his homework into his bag.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, thank you for being, thank you.


	9. Allison Reynolds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m trying to finish all the foxes chapters so that next Sunday I may introduce spin-off Sunday where I do something a bit different. Anyways, please enjoy.  
> This chapter has not been edited in any way shape or form.

It was really only people like Allison who could afford to get Starbucks. When each drink costs about five dollars you know that they’re catering specifically to rich kids.  
Naturally, this all meant Allison always went to Tim Hortons instead, where you could get a full meal for five dollars.  
It was Friday and it was cold out and so Allison strutted into the Timmies and ordered a large hot chocolate and a cookie. It came quickly, because almost all the people in the shop were already sitting. Allison balanced her completely healthy meal and looked around, but there were no free tables. She walked over to one of the tables near the window with two chairs. One was occupied by a boy and the other one was empty.  
“Hello, I’m Allison.” The boy looked up at her and nodded. “Can I sit here?”  
The boy nodded. “Sure, help yourself. I’m Jamie.”  
Allison sat down and took a big sip of hot chocolate, which immediately burned her tongue. She looked at the paper in front of Jamie, which seemed to be covered in math equations. “Is that homework?”  
“Yeah,” Jamie said, looking down at it and fiddling a bit with the corner of the page. “It was kinda tough. I considered crying on it so I could maybe get a sympathy mark from my teacher.”  
“Big mood. Wait, am I interrupting you?”  
“No, no you’re ok,” Jamie said quickly. “I was finished anyway. No crying or anything.”  
“It’s very difficult to cry in Timmies,” Allison said. “This is a place where dreams are born.”  
“Really?” Jamie looked around, as if trying to find these dreams. “My mom always told me this is where dreams came to die and dreamers came to buy crap coffee so they can stay up late and waste their lives away.”  
“Your mom sounds like a real piece of sunshine.”  
“She was,” Jamie said sarcastically. “What kinda cookie did you get?”  
“Double chocolate. I have class, ya know.”  
“I can tell,” Jamie said.  
“Was that sarcasm?”  
“What? Sarcasm? Me? Never,” Jamie said sarcastically.  
“You’re a menace,” Allison said. The boy laughed and nodded.  
“Ya got that right. And you, Madam Allison, look far too rich to be hanging around in a Tim Hortons.”  
“That’s the goal. Furious clash of aesthetics is kinda my thing.”  
“Nice. My thing is suffering over crap coffee in Timmies.”  
“Man, this is the time to be alive, amarite?”  
“Oh, absolutely. I’m just really feeling the vibe,” Jamie said. Then he leaned a little closer and whispered, which a smile still perched perilously on his face: “I’m dying inside.”  
“Same,” Allison said, throwing up a peace sign.  
“Good to know we’re on the same page,” Jamie said. He paused for a moment. “Why do I feel like I recognize you from somewhere?”  
Allison thought for a moment. “My parents are rich and famous.”  
“Makes sense, makes sense.”  
Allison sipped her hot chocolate and successfully didn’t burn herself. She slid her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. “It’s two fifty already?”  
Jamie’s eyes widened. “That’s my cue to leave.”  
He jumped up and ran out of the Tim Hortons, leaving Allison alone with her thoughts and her cookie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed because I specifically requested it.


	10. Seth Gordon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trying to figure out how to write Kevin’s chap at the moment. But please, enjoy this future dead boy having a freak out in a school yard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was edited by: Nobody. No editing. Please point out any errors. Or don’t. Up to you.

Seth didn’t often have freak outs, but when he did he made sure he was alone. The issue of course was that he was leaning against the fence of his school and he was not alone.  
“What are you doing here?”  
Seth startled at what suddenly seemed much louder than it had to be. He shot his eyes sideways towards the person beside him. “I was hoping this would be a nice place to be alone. Normally kids don’t stay at school past the actual class times.”  
“Why did you want to be alone,” the boy asked.  
“Because I was upset,” Seth didn’t bother denying.  
“Was?”  
“Am.”  
“Why?”  
Seth thought for a moment. Maybe it was that he woke up on the wrong side of the bed or maybe that he had worked hard on that test, had studied for weeks only to still get a bad mark, proving once and for all that he was dumb or maybe it was that nobody would leave him alone or maybe that he didn’t want to see his family again or maybe he was just tired.  
“I’m tired,” Seth settled on.  
The boy looked at him and nodded. “Can I help?”  
Seth shook his head. Seth continued to shake his head. He felt like he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t stop and now he was freaking out about not being able to do anything. He was just freaking out. He could feel the boy looking at him.  
“Hey. Hey. Hey.”  
The boy continued to speak, saying Hey over and over. It was repetition and it worked. Somewhat. Seth felt his breathing calm down. His heartbeat was still worryingly fast, but he had stopped shaking his head so he considered it a win.  
He looked over at the boy. The boy was already looking at him.  
“I can go if you want,” the boy said.  
Seth nodded his head. “Thanks.”  
If the boy heard him, he did not acknowledge it. He just got up, brushed a leaf off his coat and ran off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you as always. You are always deserving of thanks. Why? Because I said so.  
> <3


	11. Cecil Palmer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Featuring the one and only Cecil Gershwin Palmer of Night Vale. Not edited. Sorry bout dat.

“There is a new person in Night Vale, dearest listeners. He has hair the colour of the low burning fire on the horizon. His eyes are incomprehensibly blue. He walks with a slight limp. He runs, very fast, without a limp. He says his name is Abram. If you see the interloper, say Hello! Show him that Night Vale is a friendly desert community. Smile and show him your teeth. ALL OF THEM.”  
——  
Cecil pushed away from his desk. Someone was knocking on the station door. He swung it open, carefully. The serrated edges passed an inch or two in front of his face.  
The person on the other side of the door had hair the colour of the low burning fire on the horizon. He had eyes so blue. He had no smile. He held out his hand to Cecil.  
Cecil shook his hand and nodded. “A pleasure, Mr. Interloper.”  
The interloper tilted his head just slightly. “I go by Abram, actually. I think you knew that, though. You broadcast it to the whole community.”  
Cecil thought for the moment. He had, hadn’t he!  
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Abram. It’s not often we get interlopers around here.”  
“I suppose that makes sense. Or maybe not. Nothing seems to make proper sense around here.”  
Abram looked sadly at the wall. The wall looked back, though Abram didn’t know it.  
“Like, time doesn’t work here,” Abram continued, still looking at the wall. “I have a watch, but it doesn’t align with any of the clocks here. And none of the clocks here align with each other.”  
Cecil pushed his sleeve up his arm. Abram looked for a moment at all the purplish tattoos covering Cecil’s forearm. Then his eyes fixed on Cecil’s gold watch.  
“It’s from my boyfriend, Carlos The Scientist,” Cecil explained. “Apparently, it’s the only clock in all of Night Vale that works.”  
“Oh. So what time is it?”  
“Six thirty in the morning.”  
“Oh.”  
“Yes,” Cecil said. Then, taking pity on the poor interloper, he added: “There’s food in the station fridge if you’re hungry.”  
Abram smiled gratefully at him. “That would be very nice.”  
Cecil led Abram to the station fridge. It contained half a jug of orange juice, marked as dangerous. A loaf of bread, also marked dangerous. Some imaginary corn, an invisible pie and a large pumpkin filled up the bottom shelf. Abram stuck his hand into the fridge hesitantly, as if it would bite him. The fridge didn’t bite him, though it admittedly considered it. Abram did not take any of the previously mentioned items. He just took out the pop tarts from the middle shelf. Cecil nodded at his questioning look and began making himself a coffee.  
When the water started to boil and scream in the high pitched voice that characterized drinking water, Cecil turned to get two mugs. What he saw both surprised him and insulted him.  
The interloper was running out of the station! Empty handed, pop tarts sitting sadly on the table, water screaming louder as Abram kicked up piles of sand and ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goodnight, Night Vale. 
> 
> Goodnight.


	12. The Void

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Void and the boy have a nice chat. Very nice. For who? Suppose you’ll have to figure that out for yourself.

The Void did not often speak with people. When people spoke to it, it listened. It rarely started it’s own conversations, because it happened to be quite socially awkward.   
“What am I doing here?” A boy in a hotel room muttered. Almost to himself. Almost, but not quite.   
“You are here for a greater purpose that you do not yet understand,” the Void answered, already falling into the gentle contents of conversation. Void says one thing, the boy answers and adds his own thing. Void responds to his thing and then says it’s own thing. Repeat.   
The boy laughed and nodded. “Greater purpose. Right.”  
“You are worth more than the lies you tell,” the Void continued.   
The boy looked around him a little bit, but both figuratively and literally the boy was almost entirely alone. The Void briefly wondered if he liked it that way.   
“You live in a world where a definite reason and purpose is always expected,” the Void pressed on still. “You live in a world that eternally constrains people like you.”  
The boy looked up, up to where the heavens would be if he did not have a roof over his head.   
“People like me?”  
The Void thought for a moment, maybe two. “People bigger than this small world can hold under lock and key. Tell me, how much do you want to be free?”  
The boy laughed some more. The Void wanted to ask him what was funny. After all, people rarely told the Void jokes.   
“I suppose you’re speaking in rhymes now,” the boy said. “I would like to be free. But if I stop running, will I find freedom or another cage? I’m done fighting like a caged animal for a life that I never even lived in the first place. At some point, survival for the sake of a tomorrow that you will hate as much as today is pointless.”  
The Void nodded sadly. “This world is hard on people. But people continue to surprise. Today and tomorrow and the day after that may be bad, but maybe someday something will change. You are not delicate, if you were you’d be dead by now.”  
“How do I know I’m not? Dead. How do I know I’m not dead?”  
“I would tell you if you were,” the Void replied honestly.   
“That’s comforting.”  
“I’m not sure I like all the sass I’m getting,” the Void said playfully. It enjoyed the friendly banter with the boy. It did not enjoy many things.   
“So you can really tell when I’m being sarcastic? Wow.”  
Then the boy, seemingly for no reason, shut out the Void. The boy stared at the wall, drowning out all of it’s comforting words. The boy was saying his own words.   
“I’m crazy. I am. I’m crazy. I am.”  
His words started to melt together until it was just his lips moving and sounds coming out in a nonsensical order. He would laugh, every now and then. His breathing was irregular. The Void tried to point that out to him.   
The boy jumped up, rather suddenly. He seemed to be doing everything suddenly at the moment. “See you later, Void.”  
“See you!” The Void called, at the boy’s rapidly disappearing figure, truly hoping to see the boy again. The boy ran until he was away and out of sight and then a little farther still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, Reader. How are you doing? I hope you’re doing well. I hope that you will be doing better in the future. I hope that when you and the void have a chat, it will be very pleasant. 
> 
> As always thanks for reading. Thanks for existing. Thanks in general.


	13. Newt Scamander

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello welcome back. New guest from different fandom and timeline, please welcome Newt Scamander. Thanks to petric0r_under_starlight for suggesting some characters in the comments. This chapter, I’m sorry to say, is for you. But don’t worry, there will be better chapters with the characters you gave. Pinky swear.

Newt Scamander fiddled with the buttons on his coat as he walked. He considered this a perfectly normal thing, though he was worried that the bright blue colour of the coat may not help with blending in.   
He wasn’t always fussed with looking or acting normal, but that day it was crucial that he blend in with the crowd.   
He had been doing well, adjusting his pace to move with the crowd, checking his watch often.   
Finally, he made it to the park. A small bit of the weight on his shoulders disappeared. He looked for a map of the trails and found that the path he was looking for was quite long. He pulled his coat tighter around the small creature he was hiding inside it and quickly made his way into the forest.   
After walking for what felt like quite a while he stopped in a small clearing. He unbuttoned his coat and pulled out the wild niffler, who seemed to not have enjoyed their walk.   
The niffler sniffed at the ground, then jumped down and ran in a circle. It looked quite happy. Newt would have been content to watch it all day.   
There was a rustle in the trees and Newt’s head snapped up. Maybe another niffler, greeting it’s family?  
The boy who stepped out was not a niffler. Newt tried not to look disappointed. Then he saw what the boy was holding.   
“Oh my,” Newt said in wonder. “Is that a baby wild niffler?”  
The boy looked down at the little grey fluff ball in his arms and smiled. “Yeah. This is Gregory. I’ve been watching over him since when you came here last time and took Bob.”  
The boy made his way towards Bob and took a quick peek at his freshly healed leg.   
“Thanks for fixing him,” the boy said. He slowly tried to lower Gregory to the ground, but the little niffler jumped from his hands and ran up to Bob. Newt and the boy shared a small smile over the two.   
“How did you know I would take good care of him?” Newt was curious; how had this boy decided that he could be trusted with the niffler.  
“I saw your little stick man poking out of your coat,” the boy laughed a bit at the memory. “He gave me a thumbs up.”  
“Oh,” Newt said, looking down at his adorable little stick man. The stick man smiled innocently up at him. “How are you always here when I’m here?”  
The boy looked around. “I do my school work here. Besides, I know the times nifflers are most active.”  
Newt nodded. The nifflers considered this the perfect time to interrupt both of them by scurrying over and trying to steal any shiny belongings. Newt immediately tried to cover his silver buttons, but it was no use. The niffler just pushed his hand away and started tugging violently at the buttons.   
The boy wasn’t faring much better. His niffler dove into his pockets and came out triumphantly with ten cents. Then the niffler stated deftly taking off the boy’s silver watch.   
The nifflers converged again, showing off their prizes. Bob reached a hand towards the watch Gregory had found but Gregory slapped his hand away. It was such a painfully human interaction. Or perhaps it was a very niffler interaction that humans had learned from them. It was hard to say.   
The boy slid his hand along and triumphantly took back his silver watch. His eyes caught on the face and he groaned. “Great, I’ll need to get this repaired again. And on top of that, it’s late. I’m gonna be late.”  
The boy stood up. “Pleasure meeting you. I hope our paths cross again.”  
Before Newt had a chance to respond, the boy dashed off with the nifflers crashing after him, in search of the shiny watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it. I hope you enjoy having it. Would you like to have a present? Here you can have this —>🎁  
> Regards,  
> Duck


End file.
